Other Worlds
Charlie James Gallery is pleased to present Other Worlds, curated by Martin Durazo. Taking cues from magical realism and Aldous Huxley’s essay Doors of Perception, this group exhibition explores inner worlds, dreamlike states, and escapism. A diverse group of artists working in mediums ranging from light work, video, performance, painting, illustration, and installation respond to current socio-political realities by looking inward, presenting entirely unique, exploratory aesthetics. Eccentricity, spiritual awakenings, technology, science fiction, human connection, memory, pleasure, dislocation, sexuality, and belief systems are explored beyond real-world experiences.
The Gallery space itself is considered through this hallucinatory lens, eschewing the traditional white cube for ambient lighting, black light, use of sound, and performative expressions. In Other Worlds artists Maura Bendette, Chelsea Boxwell, Mike Dee, Martin Durazo, HELL-(O), Rachel Lauren Kaster, Heidi Kidon, Thinh Nguyen, Lindsey Nobel, Dakota Noot, Anaeis Ohanian, Esther Ruiz, Jaime Scholnick, Emily Silver, Thaddeus Strode, and Osvaldo Trujillo create work of inner exploration, drug-induced euphoria, and the possibilities of mind-bending archaeological discoveries. The show champions multiplicity: in realities, understanding, and perception.
Martin Durazo lives and works in Los Angeles. His multi-disciplinary work ranges from abstract paintings, objects, and videos, to large-scale multi-media installations that are influenced by club–lighting, punk and heavy metal music, narcotics, and extreme psycho and sexual behaviors. Durazo holds a BA in Art and English from Pitzer College, Claremont, CA and an MFA from University of California Los Angeles. He is the recipient of the 2012 COLA Individual Artists Fellowship from the City of Los Angeles and a 2011 California Community Foundation Fellowship Award, funded by the Getty Trust. His work was included in the inaugural Sur Biennial and in 2010 he was artist-in-residence at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, CA. He has exhibited in many national and international artist-run spaces, and commercial galleries including, Barbara Davis Gallery (Houston, TX) Jaus Art Gallery (West Los Angeles, CA), Ethan Cohen Fine Arts (New York, NY), Roberts Projects (formerly Roberts and Tilton Gallery, Culver City, CA), Luis De Jesus (Culver City, CA), Mark Moore Gallery, (Culver City, CA), Susanne Vielmetter (Culver City, CA), Gallery Lara (Tokyo), the Torrance Art Museum (Torrance, CA) and many others.
Installation
